
The Structure of the Constitution
In 1787, the United States of America is finally starting to develop into a true nation. The Framers of the Constitution realize that the country needs a government that is not over-bearing but is not to liberal. Knowing this, the Framers structured the government in a specific way. First, they made different federal and state powers. Next, they placed the separation of federal powers. Third, the Founders created Congress. After this, a president was chosen. Federal courts were the last structural clause in the Constitution.
The Writers wanted to separate the powers into different levels. The first level is called the federal government. This is where the power is shared among state and national delegates. The federal government is broken into different powers. Powers that are reserved for the states to choose laws, such as in the educational purposes. Other powers are reserved for the country as a whole to vote on, like declaring war. This was a smart move because it made the states feel like they have a voice. In some cases, though, the nation had to use both powers as one. These issues, such as collecting taxes, are called concurrent powers. 
The nation could not give to much power to any one group or person. The Constitution create a separation of powers. This gave the three branches of the government, the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, their own area of authority. The Constitution then gave each branch the right to stop, or check, the others in certain ways if they did not agree with the what the other is doing. The president can veto any acts of Congress. The executive branch is balanced. Which means they can overturn a veto with Congress with two-thirds vote of each house. This practice is called checks and balances. 
The Constitution also had to limit the control people had over the government. In a comparison of the House of Representatives and the Senate demonstrates this effort at balance. The population of the state determines the number of seats a state has in the House. The members of the House served a two-year term so the members could change their representatives quicker. The Senate was elected by the legislatures instead of the voters. This senators served six-year terms. This limited the peoples power on the impact on the Senate. This was done so to escape from different opinions in the Senate. If the Senate was not as much part of the people it would not be as easily influenced by popular opinions. The Senate is in charge of creating laws, so this kept from bad laws being passed because of these opinions. The House and Senate together made the most powerful body in the nation. Congress had control of money matters, warfare, and commerce. 
The Framers of the Constitution thought that there had to be someone in charge of the country. One person who would handle armed forces and could also veto any acts. This person became the President of the United States of America. The President would be chosen by Electors in each state. The house of Representatives would have the final say in who became President.
The judiciary branch was another important part to the Constitution. It called for a national court system. The members of this court system were chosen by the President. The judges were chosen by the President. Judges could not retire. They were to be justices for life. These courts were known as the Supreme Court.
<br><br><b>Bibliography</b><br><br>
America Past and Present Textbook. prentice Hall
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